Debut Broadcast
"...Not interested in being an idol or a singer instead of a VTuber?"
"No."
"Pardon?"
Ah. Did I answer too fast?
Figuring the lack of explanation might be the problem, I hurriedly added more.
"I want to live comfortably without showing my face."
I'd learned that lesson for certain, courtesy of Gyeongmin back in the day. I still wasn't ready for that kind of thing.
"Ah... so that's why a VTuber..."
Beyond that, I listened to a brief rundown of the plans going forward and asked a few questions when I had them.
"So, how many of us are there in total?"
"We've selected six people this time."
So it was the five who'd been chosen in my past life, plus me, making six.
"Will the members ever meet in real life?"
"No. We think stories like 'our first meeting' have their own audience demand, so we're saving that as content to be streamed later."
"Oh..."
If that's the case, that works in my favor again. No matter how pretty whoever shows up turns out to be, I'm confident I'll absolutely crush any first meeting.
I was already looking forward to how the members — whose names I didn't even know yet — would react.
And with that, the day ended.
Today was the first day all the members got on a call together.
It wasn't a gathering for friendship — it was for group training.
When the time came, I checked the Discord room and saw two people already inside.
"Hello."
The moment I greeted them first, both women answered with a jolt.
[Ah! Yes! Hello!]
[Hellooooo!]
Ah. A voice crack.
Wanting to spare them any further mortification on their behalf, I introduced myself.
"I'm Lee Yeonwoo. I'm twenty."
[What?! Twenty?!]
"Yes."
Whoa, that startled me. Screaming out of nowhere.
I turned down the volume of whoever had just yelled.
[Wow! You're so young! I'm Kim Yubin! Twenty-four years old!]
[I'm... Lim Yuna! Twenty-two!]
The energetic type and the shy type, huh?
As we chatted, more people started trickling in.
[Hello~ I'm Yoon Sua~. My age is 17 years old +6 enhancement?]
[I'm Shin Yerin. Twenty-five.]
[Aigoo, everyone here is my dongsaeng... I'm Jeon Minseo, and I'm twenty-seven.]
So the interviewer had clearly picked people with strong, distinct personalities and no overlapping characters.
And every single one of those voices was one I'd heard at least once back when I was a man.
Energetic, shy, sly, cool, gentle... every one of them had a solid character type locked down.
Then what was mine?
Aren't I overlapping with the sly type and the cool type here?
[I used to be an idol trainee.]
Ah, right. Back when I was a man, I did hear some info about this group — something about three of them being former idol trainees.
I hadn't gotten the full rundown on the RP policy yet, but at our last one-on-one they'd said that a certain amount of "red medicine" — real-life background info — could be disclosed to fuel viewer imagination. Apparently they'd already spilled that particular bean on stream.
The three former idol trainees were Kim Yubin, Yoon Sua, and Jeon Minseo.
And apparently Kim Yubin had even appeared on an idol survival show before.
Ah... so that's what those comments in the interview were about. The people who'd get found out anyway.
Making it onto a televised survival program meant getting doxxed was only a matter of time, so they'd probably just opened it up deliberately for the buzz.
Ding!
[Hello, everyone. I'm Min Jiyu, the manager who greeted you during your individual interviews.]
Our manager ran the training session.
That said, the training was incredibly boring.
They were starting from VTuber basics — like, teaching us what RP even was.
Ah. Is that why they picked three idol trainees? You can drill VTuber knowledge into someone, but you can't manufacture charisma?
But as a general rule, VTubing only gets fun and generates buzz when you raise hell.
With all these prohibitions in place, weren't they just failing to see the full potential until the songs came out?
By that measure, our company now had a chance to grow bigger than ever before — so they ought to be thanking me.
Ah! Was I hired through the clown-track because of how I ended my interview?!
Well then, I should just act the part I was hired for. Mm-hm.
[That concludes today's session.]
Oh, it's over?
I'd been busy pondering what I should pull at my debut broadcast to make it entertaining, and the time had just flown by.
[Also, we're targeting your debut in three weeks.]
Three weeks? Isn't that awfully fast?
[After reviewing everyone's schedules, you'll have group training three times a week, followed by individual interviews when one week remains.]
Wow... that's brutal.
[Question!]
[Yes, Yubin-nim.]
[What's our group name?!]
[That's going to be used as content.]
After that, everyone asked whatever they were curious about, and today's training came to an end.
With this much to do, time really did fly.
Only a week was left until the debut.
These days, I was spending so many hours taking online training sessions from home.
And today was the day of my individual meeting.
"Yeonwoo-nim, welcome."
"Thank you, Manager-nim."
I took a seat and twisted open the cap of the fruit drink sitting on the desk, taking a sip.
"Honestly, you seem like the most changed person since the interview, Yeonwoo-nim. I'm relieved."
"Pardon? Ah... well..."
What's this about? Out of nowhere?
"Truthfully, at your first interview, we held quite a long series of meetings about whether we should hire what seemed to be a lunatic."
Hm. I see.
"But once we hired you, you turned out to follow the training better than anyone and listen so well, I almost feel guilty for having worried."
Hmmm..... I see.....
"I don't think you'll be cause for concern, Yeonwoo-nim, so feel free to just kill some time and head out."
"Understood."
The manager's words stabbed at my conscience, but it was fine.
I could prove myself with results, couldn't I?
The day of the debut broadcast arrived.
Following the unwritten law of VTubers, everyone turned their streams on one by one — and thanks to my own request, I'd been placed last in the order.
So there I was, watching my fellow members' broadcasts alongside the community.
Viewership averaged over 3,000 people the whole way through.
I hadn't really known the situation back then, but apparently they were popular from the very start.
Well, with a company backing them like that, no wonder they drew so much attention.
And honestly, the members were all genuinely good.
Even the community's reactions weren't bad — minus the usual troublemakers.
Posts like this one, for example:
Huh. Was I a full-blown otaku?
Calling dibs, seriously?
For the record, my handle is Rose.
My avatar had a rather sharp-featured face, black hair and black eyes styled in a ponytail, wearing a black hoodie and dolphin shorts on the bottom.
Hmm... come to think of it, didn't this avatar look a lot like me?
Ah, it's my turn now.
I got ready and hit the start button.
After a brief wait, I could see chat — silent until now — filling up with messages.
My intro music ended, and I turned on my mic.
"Ahh. Ahh."
viewer_01: ??
KingOfDibs: Holy shit, what is that voice?
└ This message was deleted.
melodyhunter: ㅗㅜㅑ
RoseGarden: Onee-san...
soldout_in_1s: I'm standing at attention...
└ This message was deleted.
Hm. Everyone is welcoming me so enthusiastically.
Next, I put my virtual avatar up on screen.
"Hello, I'm Rose."
viewer_02: Wow!
deepvoice_enjoyer: Wow... that voice is insane.
bride_collector: It's decided. You will be my bride.
└ This message was deleted.
art_frog: The avatar is so pretty
no_money_sorry: Are donations open?
Donations weren't open yet. Apparently they'd unlock once I got comfortable with streaming.
Which, on a day like today, was honestly a mercy.
"Now that introductions are out of the way, let's get to what I've prepared."
chatty_07: Already?
viewer_03: ?
speedrun_fan: This fast?
lonely_viewer: Talk to us, please
And then I pulled up an image on screen.
"Ta-da."
viewer_04: ?
confused_and_tired: What is that?
viewer_05: What are you doing?
What I'd put up was nothing special.
"I have decided that I cannot tolerate any other bearing the same name under this sky — so I'm going to eliminate them all."
Perhaps...?
"Yes, my first content will be—"
Had I thought of something even better bait, I might have switched, but I have a conscience too, so I stuck with this one.
"Same-Name Carnage."
It was a Rose-series mukbang.
The newly created Virtual Artist Department at Gaon Entertainment.
Min Jiyu, managing the new group there, was monitoring the broadcasts.
Every act before this one had exceeded all projected numbers, and the whole department was buzzing.
"Aren't we getting bonuses for this?!"
"You bet we are! We're at one and a half times the projected data!"
Amid all this excitement, Jiyu alone kept her composure. Because...
"And now! Only Yeonwoo-ssi left!"
She had delivered a warning dressed up as an expression of trust during their interview, and while the manic edge from that day seemed gone, one could never be too careful.
[Ahh. Ahh.]
"Wow... Yeonwoo-ssi really does have a gorgeous voice."
"That face and that voice... she seriously has it all, doesn't she?"
At her coworkers' remarks, Yeonwoo's face floated up in Jiyu's mind.
Hm... she really is beautiful, though.
[Hello, I'm Rose.]
"Huh? Isn't her voice tone a bit higher than usual?"
"Right? Haha, she is twenty — maybe she's nervous."
Please. Let it be that.
[Now that introductions are out of the way, let's get to what I've prepared.]
"Wait, what did Yeonwoo-ssi say she was doing today?"
"I never heard anything either. What about you, Jiyu-ssi?"
"Nothing from me either."
"Well, then I guess she'll do something safe and wrap it up."
Right? It'll be fine.
[Ta-da.]
"Huh? Isn't that Rose Tteokbokki?"
"It is, right? What's she planning? Well, she picked a good photo, at least. Looks delicious."
[I have decided that I cannot tolerate any other bearing the same name under this sky — so I'm going to eliminate them all.]
Hold on. What did she just say?
Feeling her body suddenly break out in a shiver, Jiyu kept watching the broadcast.
"What did she just say?"
"Same name? Rose?"
[Yes, my first content will be Same-Name Carnage.]
That absolute lunatic. Next time I see her, I'm going to land one good punch on—
Yeonwoo's face flashed through Jiyu's mind.
And Jiyu, quite naturally, blew the thought right out of her head.